Romance casts Danica Patrick back into NASCAR spotlight

The biggest story leading up to the Daytona 500 this week is not the introduction of the Gen-6 cars or defending champion Brad Keselowski’s team switching from Dodge to Ford.

It’s Danica Patrick. And just not Danica Patrick.

It’s Danica Patrick and Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

NASCAR has its first racemance . . . Daniky.

And the coupling of Sprint Cup rookies Patrick and Stenhouse is all that anyone has talked about this past week at the Daytona International Speedway gears up for the Feb. 24 Daytona 500. Four of the first five questions put to Jimmie Johnson at the five-time champion’s press conference had to do with the Patrick-Stenhouse relationship.

Of course, Patrick was already in the spotlight.

Just one season removed from the IndyCar circuit, the 30-year-old Patrick will be seeking the Sprint Cup Rookie of the Year award in 2013 while driving a Chevrolet for Tony Stewart. The only woman ever to win an IndyCar race and finish as high as third in the Indianapolis 500, Patrick is one of the better known drivers in racing although her stock car resume is a bit thin.

Stenhouse is also a candidate to win the Sprint Cup Rookie of the Year award and his stock car credentials are much better than Patrick’s.

Stenhouse, 25, comes to the Sprint Cup in a Roush Racing Ford off two straight championship runs in the second-echelon Nationwide Series – where Patrick finished 10th in 2012.

Patrick, who filed for divorce from her husband and former personal trainer Paul Hospenthal in early January, has been dating Stenhouse for less than a month.

“It’s like the Capulets and Montagues,” Patrick said earlier this week at a press conference, drawing a Ford-Chevy parallel to the Shakespearean love story that didn’t end particularly well.

“This just doesn’t work. Initially, it was that mental hurdle of ‘we compete against each other.’ But you can’t tell your heart who to like or not like.”

Patrick said one of her first concerns was how their respective teams and sponsors would greet NASCAR’s first driver-driver romance. Really?

Patrick is one of the more sponsor and media savvy drivers in the history of motorsports. Stenhouse might have a wide edge in talent when it comes to driving stock cars, but if it ever comes to pre-nups, it will be Patrick seeking the signature.

Patrick and Patrick-Stenhouse are the two stories trending from NASCAR. The new cars are a footnote.

Ask Johnson.

He answered five questions about Patrick-Stenhouse before anyone asked him about the new Gen-6 Chevy he is driving.

“Is (Patrick-Stenhouse) a good thing for NASCAR or is it a distraction?” Johnson was asked at the outset of his pre-Daytona 500 press conference.

“I haven’t thought about it until just now,” said Johnson. “I mean, in some respects it’s just a relationship, clearly there is more to it. I have no clue. It doesn’t hurt anything. It will keep people looking and watching, curious to see what that dynamic is on the track. I’m sure of that.”

On the track, Patrick and Stenhouse have two very diverse styles.

Patrick is very fast while running alone but has had problems in traffic. She also has displayed a short fuse. Stenhouse is a classic stock car driver who likes to let his car slide through turns. He also displays a cool head in competition.

Many drivers have already wondered what might happen if the pair are running side-by-side while racing for position.

“There’s no way that this relationship is not going to affect their performance,” said reigning Sprint Cup champion Brad Keselowski. “As a race car driver, you make decisions that put you in danger all the time. The mental process is unique. Whatever outside influences you have are going to affect how you perform.”

Keselowski said the bigger concern is how they might race one another if there is a breakup.